This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 98-32376, filed on Aug. 10, 1998, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly to a slim liquid crystal display allowing a printed circuit board to be fixed on a frame in such a manner that its has a reduced thickness.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (hereinafter, LCD) has such features as being lightweight, thin, and driven using low power. Also, the LCD provides a highly enhanced picture quality owing to an improvement in liquid crystal material and development in a fine picture element (or pixel) treatment technique. Furthermore, the application field of the LCD is gradually becoming wide. For example, the LCD acts as a display apparatus in a notebook personal computer. Such a notebook personal computer is slim and lightweight for portability.
The LCD used for the notebook personal computer includes a top case 2 surrounding side faces and edges of a liquid crystal module (hereinafter, LCM) 4. The LCM 4 is mounted on a frame 6. The side faces of the frame 6 are surrounded by the top case 2. The LCM 4 has a light guide, light sheets, a lower polarizing plate, a lower glass substrate, a liquid crystal layer, an upper glass substrate, and an upper polarizing plate disposed sequentially on the frame 6.
Also, there is mounted a printed circuit board (hereinafter, PCB) 8 below the frame 4. The PCB 8 is connected to drive integrated circuit (hereinafter, D-IC) 10 for driving switching elements (i.e., thin film transistor array) on the LCM 4, by means of a tape carrier package (hereinafter, TCP) 12. The TCP 12 connects electrically the D-IC 10 with the LCM 4 and transmits a video signal from the D-IC 10 to the switching elements on the LCM. The switching elements on the LCM 4 transmit the video signals from the D-IC 10 connected to the PCB 8 to the liquid crystal layer to partially vary the transmissivity of the liquid crystal layer according to the video signals, thereby displaying a picture corresponding to the video signal.
FIG. 2 shows the PCB 8 loaded on the upper portion of the rear face of the frame 6 The PCB 8 is fixed to the frame 6 by a screw for stability. However, the screw does not fix the PCB 8 to the frame 6 because the thickness of the frame 6 is reduced according to the thinness of the liquid crystal display. Actually, if the PCB 8 is fixed to the frame 6, bars forming the frame 6 have a thickness above 3 mm. In order to slim down the liquid crystal display, the frame must be formed by the bars having a thickness below 3 mm. In this case, the PCB 8 is fixed to the rear face of the frame 6 by a double-sided tape 14. In the fixing method using the double-sided tape 14, the double-sided tape is first adhered to the rear face of the frame 6. Next, a peeling sheet is peeled off from the double-sided tape and then the PCB 8 is adhered to the double-sided tape 14, thereby fixing the PCB 8 on the rear face of the frame 6. Also, a grounding tape 16 is adhered to an edge of the PCB 8 and on a sidewall of the top case 2 such that the PCB is grounded. In the method for fixing the PCB 8 to the frame 6 using the double-sided tape 14, the working or process time increases greatly. Fixing the PCB 8 to the frame 6 causes a force on the PCB 8, which may be enough to separate the PCB 8 from the double-sided tape 12. From this, additional problems arise. Also, the grounding tape 16 has a lower grounding performance for the PCB 8 as compared to a metallic material. In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a method of fixing with stablity the PCB to the frame in such a manner as to slim down the liquid crystal display.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a slim liquid crystal display that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a slim liquid crystal display that is adapted to fixing a PCB to a frame and making a slimmer liquid crystal display.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve the above-noted and other advantages and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, a slim liquid crystal display according to one aspect of the present invention includes a frame mounted with a liquid crystal module; a printed circuit board; and a fixing unit engaged with the frame and loaded on the printed circuit board, thereby securing the printed circuit board to the frame.
In another aspect of the present invention, a liquid crystal display comprises a frame having a liquid crystal module; a printed circuit board; a board holder engaged with the frame and fixed to the printed circuit board, the board holder securing the printed circuit board to the frame.
In another aspect of the present invention, a slim liquid crystal display comprises a frame having a liquid crystal module; a printed circuit board; a board holder securing the printed circuit board to the frame, the board holder comprising a first plate having a first fastening member; a second plate coupled to the first plate having a second fastening member, the first and second fastening members engaging with the frame; and a third fastening member between the first and second plates, the third fastening member helps to secure the printed circuit board to the frame.
In another aspect of the present invention, a portable computer having a liquid crystal display comprises a frame having a liquid crystal module; a printed circuit board; a board holder engaged with the frame and fixed to the printed circuit board, the board holder securing the printed circuit board to the frame.
In a further aspect of the present invention, a portable computer having a slim liquid crystal display comprises a frame having a liquid crystal module; a printed circuit board; a board holder securing the printed circuit board to the frame, the board holder comprising a first plate having a first fastening member; a second plate coupled to the first plate having a second fastening member, the first and second fastening members engaging with the frame; and a third fastening member between the first and second plates, the third fastening member helps to secure the printed circuit board to the frame.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.